American Century Companies Inc. Grows Stake in Hancock Whitney Corporation $HWC

American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Hancock Whitney Corporation (NASDAQ:HWC) by 15.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,695,276 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 229,615 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 2.00% of Hancock Whitney worth $97,309,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of HWC. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in Hancock Whitney by 929.5% in the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of Hancock Whitney in the first quarter valued at $31,000. Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 1st quarter worth about $41,000. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Hancock Whitney by 6,107.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 807 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi bought a new stake in Hancock Whitney in the 1st quarter valued at about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.22% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HWC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James Financial reduced their target price on shares of Hancock Whitney from $73.00 to $72.00 and set a “strong-buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Hancock Whitney from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Hancock Whitney in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Hancock Whitney from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Hancock Whitney from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.14.

Insider Activity at Hancock Whitney

In related news, CFO Michael M. Achary sold 9,894 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.86, for a total value of $542,784.84. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 55,733 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,057,512.38. This trade represents a 15.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.91% of the company’s stock.

Hancock Whitney Trading Up 2.8%

Hancock Whitney stock opened at $60.77 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Hancock Whitney Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $43.90 and a fifty-two week high of $64.66. The stock has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $59.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.03.

Hancock Whitney (NASDAQ:HWC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 14th. The company reported $1.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.43 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $175.56 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $391.32 million. Hancock Whitney had a return on equity of 11.29% and a net margin of 23.99%.During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.33 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Hancock Whitney Corporation will post 5.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hancock Whitney Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 5th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Hancock Whitney’s payout ratio is presently 32.20%.

Hancock Whitney Profile

Hancock Whitney Corporation operates as the financial holding company for Hancock Whitney Bank that provides traditional and online banking services to commercial, small business, and retail customers. It offers various transaction and savings deposit products consisting of brokered deposits, time deposits, and money market accounts; treasury management services, secured and unsecured loan products including revolving credit facilities, and letters of credit and similar financial guarantees; and trust and investment management services to retirement plans, corporations, and individuals, and investment advisory and brokerage products.